Merit Financial Group LLC Has $546,000 Stock Holdings in Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) by 167.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,911 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,699 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Arch Capital Group were worth $546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Arch Capital Group by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,587,446 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,855,803,000 after buying an additional 172,628 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Arch Capital Group by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,830,263 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,208,307,000 after purchasing an additional 253,648 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Arch Capital Group by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,438,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $832,246,000 after acquiring an additional 337,786 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Arch Capital Group by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,124,251 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $573,301,000 after buying an additional 49,426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Arch Capital Group by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,455,949 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $348,671,000 after buying an additional 316,070 shares during the last quarter. 89.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on ACGL. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Arch Capital Group from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com downgraded Arch Capital Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Arch Capital Group from $143.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Arch Capital Group from $121.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Arch Capital Group from $114.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.00.

Arch Capital Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ACGL opened at $93.02 on Friday. Arch Capital Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $78.67 and a 12-month high of $116.47. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $94.63 and a 200 day moving average of $101.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.64.

Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.05. Arch Capital Group had a net margin of 33.86% and a return on equity of 18.94%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.31 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Arch Capital Group Ltd. will post 8.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Arch Capital Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $5.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th.

Arch Capital Group Company Profile

Arch Capital Group Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance, reinsurance, and mortgage insurance products worldwide. The company's Insurance segment offers primary and excess casualty coverages; loss sensitive primary casualty insurance programs; directors' and officers' liability, errors and omissions liability, employment practices and fiduciary liability, crime, professional indemnity, and other financial related coverages; medical professional and general liability insurance coverages; and workers' compensation and umbrella liability, as well as commercial automobile and inland marine products.